Porn Production Losing Ground on Technology

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2009

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A TV Box Carries Porn

Digital Playground was one of the first adult companies to move into the video-on-demand space when it signed an exclusive deal that allowed Vudu to sell its content through its set-top box straight to consumers' televisions.

The deal has lapsed and now Lewis and her partner, Ali Joone, are considering their options.

But as they review the distribution possibilities, the obstacles are becoming clear.

Across the way, at the Consumer Electronics Show, companies are increasingly marrying content and devices. LG electronics, for example, released a partnership earlier this week that allows consumers to stream movies directly from the Internet to the TV, bypassing a personal computer.

A Void in Adult Arena

For mainstream entertainment companies, this development makes it even easier for their audiences to consume their content.

But of the 6,000 titles in the Netflix Internet library, none have adult content. As this trend continues, adult content stands to be left out.

Considering this development and other new media successes, such as iTunes, Joone said there's a void in the adult arena right now.

Joone said he and other companies like his that focus on higher quality pictures have formed a loose consortium to address the technological barriers facing the industry.

Standardizing their Internet platforms and accounting methods and creating their own distribution mechanism are at the top of the list, he told ABCNews.com.

"You're talking about an industry that has adapted to other people's technologies, but it's never really created its own technologies," Joone said.

Porn Needs Own Technology

"I think we're at a point where we need to create our own tech to keep our market where it needs to be," he added.

One potential option for Digital Playground is FyreTV, a set-top box like Vudu that only features porn.

Developed by Estefano Isaias, who is with an Ecuadorean private equity group that has investments in the telecom industry, FyreTV announced its launch at the Expo last year but didn't go commercial until last week.

During its beta phase, 18,000 subscribers could search the company's 20,000 titles by star, genre, title and preferences. Since becoming commercial, the company approved the submissions from others who wanted in on the hot new product, and it now counts 30,000 among its customers.

"There was high demand for such a gadget," FyreTV director Rodrigo Franco told ABCNews.com. "Adult entertainment companies know that DVDs are going to be obsolete in the next four years."

Subscribers pay $9.95 a month for an allotment of credits that allow them to purchase content by scene. To make sure they receive only the scenes they want, the company lets users sort according to a comprehensive array of filters, including "blonde," "brunette," "big boobs" and more graphic specifications.

Marketing Porn Aggressively

But it's not just targeting the traditional adult entertainment market. Franco said the company will soon launch an aggressive marketing campaign with ads on Comedy Central and Spike TV.

Despite innovations like FyreTV, that the industry has embraced, many technology experts in the adult world say that more ingenuity and innovation needs to come from within.